CV/career services

CV/resumé writing

Writing service includes all types of application materials — from brief one-page CVs/resumés through to detailed multi-page CVs, covering letters and application-specific submissions, such as Self Assessments or KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities statements) for government applications. It also includes writing professional profiles, especially LinkedIn profiles, which are increasingly important for some career transitions.

There are two service options — full preparation or advice-only. In the majority of cases, I take responsibility (with your assistance) for the full preparation of your CV. For all but the simplest CVs, I will interview you in depth to seek out every aspect of your experience that reflects the competencies, attributes and values your next employer is seeking. The second service option is for me to review your application materials, discuss them with you, and for either you or I to write notes that you can use in preparing your application yourself.

Interview preparation

Interview preparation is often a critical component in securing a position, and is usually targeted to a specific upcoming recruitment interview. Its focus depends on the targeted role.

For most management roles, the focus is on developing your interview agenda. As well as conveying your general suitability for the role, this agenda is designed to underline the unique strengths you can bring to the role, and to alleviate any possible concerns about aspects of your background that might be seen in a negative light. Your agenda can also include questions you’ll ask the interviewer.

For roles in government — and whenever recruitment is overseen by Human Resource professionals — the focus is on addressing behavioural interview questions, and often involves unearthing and expanding on incidents from your employment background that can be used to address a wide variety of questions. It also focuses on effectively addressing each of the components involved in a behavioural interview question.

In addition, interview preparation often covers general interview presentation techniques, ways to address commonly-asked questions, and job-specific research. When required by the recruitment process, interview preparation can include the preparation of a speech, and practice in delivering it.

Career assessment and planning

The focus of career assessment and planning depends entirely on your situation. It can involve seeking ways to contribute more effectively in the workplace, and to prove your contribution with hard information. It may involve developing a strategy and business case for an increase in remuneration or a change in the conditions of your employment, whether by way of promotion or greater resourcing, or by a redefinition of your current role.

Alternatively, it might involve less formal strategies for breaking through a glass ceiling, or other barriers to job satisfaction or advancement.

If you’re considering a change in employment field, career assessment and planning involves finding a balance between your competencies, preferences and income needs on the one hand, and the accessibility of alternative employment fields on the other. Some alternative fields will require retraining, and career planning will involve ways to investigate these fields before investing in training. If you are exploring a wide range of career options, see the article:
What sort of job do you want?

Job search strategy

Scanning the internet for vacancies is the most obvious way of securing a job, but — at best — it’s only one of the ways that people find their next job. Consultation on job search strategy focuses on investigating and/or generating upcoming job opportunities, and can include advice on — and written materials for — networking, informational interviewing, cold canvassing, and gaining work experience in a new employment field. For ideas on job search strategy, see the articles:

Supplementary career-related consultancy

Consultation often automatically involves other career-related questions, such as:

• Assessment of your chances of securing a particular advertised position and the likely salary, or salary range, of the position

• Interpretation of the sometimes opaque language of job advertisements and position descriptions

Career management consultancy can lead in many different directions. The following outlines some of the areas I have worked on with clients in the past, and represents spin-offs from a career management focus, rather than stand-alone services:

• Assessing business opportunities, formulating business start-up strategy, and preparing business cards, leaflets and cold canvassing letters, particularly for career transitions to self employment as a consultant

• Preparing business plans and visions for the future development of an organisation

• The design, formatting and content of business reports

• Writing job advertisements and references for employees

Free no-obligation first meeting

If you’re interested in finding out whether my service suits your needs, I suggest you phone me to schedule a free no-obligation first meeting. I generally schedule an hour for a first meeting.

At the meeting we’ll review your employment background and current situation, and talk over your career direction. If the preparation of a CV is an appropriate next step in your career direction, I’ll sketch out the kind of CV I’d produce for you, provide an estimate of the time involved, and indicate the kind of information that it would be useful to have on hand before the first CV preparation session.

If we work together on a CV, the preparation process is likely to involve as much time and effort on your part as it will on mine. CVs are normally prepared entirely in the consultancy context, in other words, during one-on-one meetings, and I’ll be asking questions that really test your recall. Meetings are scheduled on any day of the week, generally in 2½-hour time slots, preferably 9:30am–12pm, 1:30–4pm, or any other 2½-hour time slot between 2pm and 8pm. If we’re preparing a multi-page CV, we’ll need to schedule a series of meetings, preferably with a 2–3 day gap between meetings.

If you wish to schedule a free no-obligation first meeting, and if you have an existing CV in electronic format, I suggest you email it me before the meeting. If there’s a particular position that you’re targeting, it would also be useful to receive a link to the advertisement.